Dissecting Taylor Swift's '1989' Lyrics
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Today, America’s BFF and Lisa Frank fodder turned real girl Taylor Swift will release her fifth studio album, 1989. As if her multiple midriff-bearing performances and her fans’ breathless Tumblr posts (how many “YASSS!!!”es can a T-Swift fan YASSSS if a T-Swift fan “literally can’t”?) weren’t build up enough, Swift has been slowly teasing out lyrics from her new LP over Instagram and Twitter.
If you know anything about one Miss Taylor Alison Swift, you’ll know that her song lyrics read like a private Xanga authored by a sentient human heart. The verses and soaring choruses speak of fairytale escapes, doomed romances, careless betrayals, and brave survival. The feelings are so bold and unabashed that you can’t help listening and looking. And when you gaze long into the abyss of feels, the feels also gaze into you and remind you that it’s not your fault that guy never called you back, he’s a monster and you deserve better, and then send you homemade cookies in the mail.
Breakups, makeups, love, love lost, Romeo and Juliet, the Jonas Brothers — Taylor Swift’s oeuvre has been dedicated to cataloguing the singer’s relationship woes and, from what we’ve seen in sepia-toned Instagram pics,1989 doesn’t seem to break form. With so many human emotions and oblique references to a heartbreaking “he” to sift through, we reached out to relationship expert Tracey Steinberg to help us interpret Swift’s latest lyrics. We’ll also be providing our own decidedly non-expert take on the teasers because we once wrote a terrible poem about a crush that included the line “I drown in your eye-oceans,” so we have some things we need to work through.
“You searched the world for something else to make you feel like what we had. And in the end, in Wonderland,we both went mad.”
Tracey’s Take: “I assume she’s talking about Alice in Wonderland and she’s saying how their relationship may have been exciting and satisfying at one time but ultimately it wasn’t healthy for either of them and brought out the worst in them.”
Our Take: So we’re just going to make a judgement call and say this is about “Dear John” namesake, John Mayer. Why? We don’t really know — maybe it’s because he gives us total Cheshire Cat vibes, just creeping on every cute girl in Hollywood with a mischievous nightmare smile. We mean, Mayer wouldn’t look totally out of place hiding in some tree, what with his giant hats and vagabond ponchos.
“You always knew how to push my buttons. You give me everything and nothing.”
Tracey’s Take: “She needs to get away from this guy as quickly as possible so she can calm down. She’s probably reacting pretty extreme in this relationship and it doesn’t sound healthy.”
Our Take: You know what? This one’s also about John Mayer. He probably doesn’t have anything left to give after his relationship with Jessica Simpson, a.k.a. “Sexual Napalm”, undoubtedly the royalties for that one song about running through his poorly guarded high school (WHERE WERE THE HALL MONITORS?) ran out.
“When you’re young you just run but you come back to what you need…”
Tracey’s Take: “It sounds like Taylor is growing up. She’s learning how to handle disappointment and how to give herself what she needs when challenged.”
Our Take: If this is true, one look around our bedroom would suggest that what we “needed” were drugstore glitter nail polishes, approximately 1000 oversized sweatshirts from childhood bat mitzvahs, Seamless takeout, and alcohol-themed accessories …so, yeah, Swift is 100% right about this one.
“Your necklace hanging from my neck. The night we couldn’t quite forget. When we decided to move the furniture so we could dance baby, like we stood a chance. Two paper airplanes flying, flying.”
Tracey’s Take: “She’s reminiscing about when they were enjoying each other and celebrating their happy relationship. They were having fun together but the fun couldn’t and didn’t last very long.”
Our Take: So the Internet is utterly convinced that this song is about One Direction’s brooding teen dream Harry Styles. We’re not exactly what you would call a Directioner: the only things we know about Styles, we learned from erotic Tumblr fanfiction. So unless he really does have the hindquarters of a horse, we’re probably not well-versed enough in Swift and Styles lore to provide a comment. (But just in case Harry Styles really is a centaur liked that fanfic allege – well done, Taylor.)
“One night, he wakes, strange look on his face, pauses, then says ‘you’re my best friend.’ And you knew what it was. He is in love.”
Tracey’s Take: “Taylor is remembering that very special moment when she realized he was in love with her. It sounds like a very powerful and sweet memory for her.”
Our Take: Or maybe he was just talking in his sleep? We used to date a dude who talked in his sleep but only when he drank too much tequila which, when you’re in a relationship with us, happens a lot, both by circumstance and out of survival. Once he mumbled something about “feline terrorism.” Does that mean he was in love? Probably not — he stopped answering our texts after we asked him to do a Romy and Michele couples costume with us.
“I say ‘I heard that you’ve been out and about with some other girl….’”
Tracey’s Take: “Taylor wouldn’t be singing about it if she wasn’t hurt by the fact that he has a new girlfriend. But fortunately Taylor, you’ve been out with some other guys as well!”
Our Take: If this lyric doesn’t continue with “and he didn’t say anything in return because dead men can’t speak” then Taylor Swift’s brand of feminism isn’t one I can get behind.
